Thread: Opera/ art song recitals on CD & MP3 Album

I hope this is in the right place. I didn't see a thread for recital discs; I saw one for DVD/ Blue Ray but not for CDs (or for many of us MP3 albums.)

I love recital discs. Often, it's by listening to a beloved singer's recital disc that I end up branching out and purchasing a whole opera.

Here is a batch of recital discs from four different sopranos:

Alexsandra Kurzak - "Gioia!" (Rossini, Donizetti, Puccini, Verdi Arias)
http://www.deccaclassics.com/cat/sin...UCT_NR=4782730

Danielle de Niese - "The Beauty of the Baroque"
http://www.deccaclassics.com/cat/sin...UCT_NR=4782260

Anna Prohaska - "Sirene"
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/ht...ohaska-sirene/

Olga Peretyatko - "La belleza del canto"
http://www.olgaperetyatko.com/en/


I have the Kurzak CD. Sometimes I hear a hint of Lucia Popp in her voice but she has more of an edge. Also, I think the recording engineers did a terrible job. I hear distortion in the sound. It's not her though--it's the recording quality. Maybe it was just me; I only listened to the disc once. I'm going to listen again.

I just got the Peretyatko CD. But I think I am going to love this one. I think she has a lovely, lovely voice. It's clear and warm all at the same time.

My biggest surprise was the Prohaska CD. From the video clip, I think she has a wonderful voice that she uses very expressively. I can't find this CD in the US. I'm going to have to do some more digging. But I really want this one badly.

Danielle de Niese - Well...I've never been a big fan. I heard her Mozart recital disc and thought it was just okay. I have heard though that she's a singer that you need to see and hear live.

Camilla Nylund is one of my favorite sopranos, so when this recital CD was issued earlier this year, I ordered it. Her selection of arias is confined to Wagner and Richard Strauss, and roles by these two composers do seem to comprise much of her performing career. Reviews in the "trade" media have varied widely -- some loved this recording, others were much less enthusiastic.

I enjoy listening to it, but I'll admit to being a little disappointed. She sings beautifully, but real emotional involvement with the ladies she's portraying seems often to be missing. This surprises me, since there is no lack of dramatic engagement in either her Leonore (Fidelio - DVD; Harnoncourt/Zürich Opera) or Elisabeth (Tannhäuser - DVD; Philippe Jordan/Baden Baden Festival), or for that matter, in the title role of the Salzburg Festival Rusalka (Welser-Möst) just issued on CD.

Hers is a jugendlich-dramatische soprano, also well suited to more lyrical roles. She has sung many of Mozart's heroines, and it's a pity she didn't include some of them in this recital, as well.

This is an unlikely album.

Renée Fleming is a great singer, but she is not at her best singing italian opera, and less of all, verismo.

And I love verismo.

However, this CD:



made it for me. She wouldn't be able to sing well many of those operas live in the theater, and her style is a far cry from Clara Petrella's or Eugenia Burzio's... but it's really nice.

EMI kind enough to collect the many Callas recitals into two boxsets, one studio and one live, 23 CDs total

Extremely cheap at Amazon etc

Almaviva, feel free to move this thread as you feel appropriate. Sorry for the confusion! Perdono, perdono!

MAuer, thanks for introducing me to Camilla Nylund. She has a very rich voice. I might pick this one up.

schigolch, I love Fleming. I don't have this particular one but it's on my wishlist. She's one of those singers that could sing the Yellow pages and I'd listen.

DarkAngel, that looks like a great series. I don't have any Callas recordings.

It appears Decca has a similar series. I just found this one today:
http://www.amazon.com/Sylvia-Sass/dp...70052&sr=301-1

I love Sylvia Sass. Her Lady Macbeth is brilliant. She gives me chills. I also love her Donna Elvira.

I am going to be so poor.

Here we have a great compilation of this very good singer, blessed with a beautiful timbre, a perfect diction and an impeccable musicality. There are some little operatic gems, like the duets with a splendid Sena Jurinac, but the real treaure is the lied part.

This is a box with ten cd, and some of the best wagnerian singers of all time: Frida Leider, Margarete Bäumer, Johanna Gadski, Helen Traubel, Rosette Anday, Kirnsten Flagstad, Florence Austral, Lotte Lehmann, Helene Wildbrunn, Lauritz Melchior, Emanuel List, Rudolf Bockelmann, Alexander Kipnis, Hans Hotter, Carl Martin Oehmann, Franz Völker, Max Lorentz,....


Just an example, with Karin Branzell:



Recommended for all Wagner fans.

Originally Posted by schigolch

This is a box with ten cd, and some of the best wagnerian singers of all time: Frida Leider, Margarete Bäumer, Johanna Gadski, Helen Traubel, Rosette Anday, Kirnsten Flagstad, Florence Austral, Lotte Lehmann, Helene Wildbrunn, Lauritz Melchior, Emanuel List, Rudolf Bockelmann, Alexander Kipnis, Hans Hotter, Carl Martin Oehmann, Franz Völker, Max Lorentz,....

I feel ashamed, I know only five of them me not real Wagner geezer

Olga Guryakova is a Russian soprano, of the same generation than Netrebko, and I find her really good in this repertoire. I love particularly her Natacha and her Tatiana. However, her incursions in Verdi (Elisabetta di Valois, Maria Boccanegra) or Puccini (Manon Lescaut) are not really successful.

But don't worry about Guryakova singing Italian opera, this CD is very nice. And she is good looking, too...

A collection of several moments of Andrea Chénier, sung by different singers. This is the track list:

1. Compiacente... Son sessant´ anni / Ettore Bastianini
2. Son sessant´ anni / Riccardo Stracciari
3. Un di, all´ azzurro spazio / Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
4. Colpito... Un di, all´ azzurro spazio / Mario del Monaco
5. Credo... Io non ho amato ancor / Antonio Cortis
6. Die Bersi hat sich... Heil Dir, Du Süsse / Tino Pattiera - Meta Seinemeyer
7. Nemico della patria... Un di, m´ era / Titta Ruffo
8. Nemico della patria... Un di, m´ era / Tito Gobbi
9. Carlo Gérard? ... Se ancor di me / Carlo Galeffi - Lina Bruna Rasa
10. La mamma morta / Claudia Muzio
11. La mamma morta / Zinka Milanov
12. Si, fui soldato / Galliano Masini
13. Si, fui soldato / Aureliano Pertile
14. Come un bel di di maggio / Jussi Bjöerling
15. Come un bel di di maggio / Beniamino Gigli
16. Vicino a te s´acqueta / Bernardo de Muro - Augusta Oltrabella
17. Vicino a te... Vedi, la luce / Renata Tebaldi - Franco Corelli
18. Un di, m´era di gioia / Mario Sammarco

Recommended for lovers of verismo, especially of Andrea Chénier.

Here is Claudia Muzio singing... no, is Maddalena de Coigny singing "La mamma morta":